


Path of Blood

by asphyxeno



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, M/M, Vampires, rated M for future chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:33:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21721096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asphyxeno/pseuds/asphyxeno
Summary: “You know that some students think you to be a vampire?” Ferdinand prompted. “You should not be perpetuating such rumors about yourself.”“Hmm...” Hubert’s expression did shift then, though not in the way Ferdinand had anticipated. Now he simply looked thoughtful, a hand raised to his face, considering. “Do you think me a vampire too, Ferdinand?”
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 4
Kudos: 70





	Path of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by these two comics by @rasstegai on twitter:
> 
> https://twitter.com/rasstegai/status/1171480504832389120?s=19
> 
> https://twitter.com/rasstegai/status/1190360128417148929?s=19

Something had disturbed the horses.

“Easy, Francis, easy,” cooed Ferdinand as he soothed a particularly difficult stallion. “There now. That is much better." He patted the Andalusian’s neck. It exhaled a heavy breath through its nose in answer, still alert, but it was significantly less alarmed than it had been before Ferdinand had arrived.

It was the early hours of the morning, with dawn still nowhere in sight, that Ferdinand found himself in the stable, containing the situation before it awoke anyone else. As he’d already been up - studying Dagda swordsmanship, at Petra’s suggestion - he had taken it upon himself to investigate, knowing they’d be unattended at such a late hour. Thus far, his search had yielded no results. At least the horses were settled.

Ferdinand ensured that the stable’s gates were secure before exiting, his job of calming the horses done. He gathered up a candle to light the way back to his dormitory. He raised his hand in an attempt to suppress a yawn. While he wondered what might have startled them, he reasoned that perhaps it would be better to leave it for the following morning.

Then a voice from out of the dark spoke his name, and all thoughts of rest vacated his mind.

“Ferdinand,” it said, “What are you doing up so late?”

Ferdinand nearly jumped out of his skin at the eeriness of the sound. One hand to his chest, an attempt to quiet his hammering heartbeat, he hastily turned his candle to the source.

Hubert stood before him, an amused smirk crossing his features. “Oh?” he said. “Did I scare you?”

Ferdinand released the breath he’d been holding. “Most definitely not...” he protested, though his wavering voice betrayed him. Of course it was Hubert. Who else would be up at this hour. “I was just returning to my r- Wait.” It wasn’t odd to find Hubert out at this time, but he’d always wondered… “What are _you_ doing up at this hour? And were- Were you in complete darkness?”

Hubert endured Ferdinand’s reprimands while maintaining that bemused expression which irked Ferdinand to no end. Perhaps he’d change it if he knew what others thought of him.

“You know that some students think you to be a vampire?” Ferdinand prompted. “You should not be perpetuating such rumors about yourself.”

“Hmm...” Hubert’s expression did shift then, though not in the way Ferdinand had anticipated. Now he simply looked thoughtful, a hand raised to his face, considering. “Do you think me a vampire too, Ferdinand?”

Ah. Another ruse given to make a fool of him. Ferdinand would not fall for it. Despite appearances, just the very suggestion of Hubert being a vampire, of all things, was ridiculous. “What?” scoffed Ferdinand derisively. “Nonsense. I know you. And besides, vampires do not-” Cloth fingertips at his throat interrupted his words, and Ferdinand barely managed to finish his sentence as the feeling of cool fabric stole his breath. “-exist…” A thumb pressed against his adam’s apple. “H-Hubert?”

Hubert leaned in, his hand delicately enclosing around Ferdinand’s throat as he drew close. “Do you truly know me?” he asked, his familiar voice sounding foreign - enticing even - at such an intimate distance.

Soft breaths danced across Ferdinand’s jaw in the moment it took for him to respond. “Wh-” he began, but just like that Hubert had pulled away, chuckling as he moved past Ferdinand.

“Sleep well, Ferdinand,” he said as his form receded back into the darkness, leaving Ferdinand alone to process what had just happened.

Ferdinand flushed. It was no wonder Hubert thought so little of him. He’d managed to make a fool of himself after all.

-

It wasn’t until he felt the sticky wetness of blood seeping through the fabric of his gloves that Ferdinand realized what he had done. His hands shook with rage, yet for the life of him, if you’d have asked, he could not recall what had been said to incite such an act of violence.

Before him, Hubert stood, his own gloves stained red as he touched fingertips to the blood dripping steadily from his nose. “Well, well, Ferdinand,” he taunted, unperturbed by the blood dribbling down his chin. “That little outburst of yours wasn’t very _noble_ , was it?” His gaze lifted from his hands to match Ferdinand’s. The eye contact only served to spark further tension between them.

Ferdinand had to fight the urge he felt to punch him again. The way he stood calm and steady, unfazed even in the face of danger, in the face of pain, hatred, and everything else - it was enough to set Ferdinand’s blood boiling and anger twisted knots in his stomach.

Because anger was the only emotion he could readily accept as an explanation for it.

The most worrisome thing was that Hubert was right. It _wasn’t_ very noble. It had been an instinct, an uncontrollable reaction against words so offensive that he’d lashed out in defense against them. Whatever had been said, no matter how abhorrent or repulsive it might have been, it ought never warrant such behavior. He was setting a poor example.

He chose to take responsibility. “I am-” he began, but the automatic, insincere apology gracing his lips never made it out entirely. He was jerked forward, a firm grip on his jacket holding him open and vulnerable to any attack Hubert might choose as a counter. His bloodied hand was held away, to prevent any attempts at defense, and in truth, Ferdinand didn’t want to stop him from fighting back. Any reaction would be better than that endlessly calm exterior Hubert presented as a shield anything and everything.

He wanted desperately to see what lay underneath.

He braced himself for the impending blow. Cold stone pressed against his back, reminding him that even if he wished to, there was nowhere he could run. He was pinned, and prepared for any impact he would surely be dealt. And so he was surprised, to say the least, when it didn’t.

Soft, bloody lips were pressed against his own, swallowing up whatever excuses he might think to make for himself. He could taste the metallic tang of Hubert’s blood on his tongue, and without thinking, he parted his lips to deepen the kiss. He _should_ push him away. He _should_ find this appalling, or at the very least unsanitary. And yet there was that twisted feeling again, heating him to the very core of his being, and as it spread to every inch of his flesh, he found he didn’t want to turn away from the captivating man before him.

Gloved fingers twined with his against the stone, closing their hands together in what he might have called tender, were he with anyone else. The kiss broke, leaving him breathless, yet that dangerous mouth still lingered on his skin, working brief kisses down his jaw and to his neck.

“Hubert…” Ferdinand sighed, and he wasn’t ready to confront the emotion behind his own words.

Then a flash of teeth threatened to sink into his throat, and he woke up.

Ferdinand sat up in bed, a hand raised to his eyes as if he could catch the fleeting dream in his grasp even as the vision of Hubert pinning him to a wall and biting his neck rushed to fade into the recesses of his mind.

What had that been about? he wondered as he attempted to analyze the emotions dancing through his chest and causing his heart to flutter.

Then exhaustion set in and he abandoned his attempts for another time, when he was more conscious of his own surroundings.

-

Ferdinand brought a hand to his cravat only to find that something was amiss. His tie pin was gone. He must have dropped it the evening before, when he’d gone to check on the horses. If he went to look, perhaps it would still be there, trodden into the mud.

And so it was that Ferdinand found himself on his hands and knees in the stable, vainly scouring the earth for any glint of metal he could find.

“I shall never come to understand why you choose to associate yourself with creatures that could kill you in one swift motion, should they so wish.”

Ferdinand just barely missed hitting his head on a beam of wood as he hastened to right himself out of such a ridiculous position. There, just outside the stall, stood Hubert, once again having surprised him with his sudden presence.

“I choose to associate with you, do I not?” Ferdinand said, dusting his trousers and looking his best not to look as though he hadn’t just been crawling in the dirt.

“Hm,” Hubert acknowledged, “Though I believe I shall never come to understand that either.”

“In the future, you ought not approach the stables so quietly, lest you truly do wish to see the sort of damage a startled horse can do,” chided Ferdinand. He’d seen a few nobles get kicked that way, and the following broken limbs that accompanied such an injury. And _they_ had been lucky.

“I’ll bear it in mind,” said Hubert, that infuriating smirk on his face as he posed the inevitable question. “What were you doing on the ground? Fall out of your saddle?”

Fury flushed Ferdinand’s veins at the very implication of such a thing. As if he would ever! The gall! “I will have you know I was searching for my tie pin.” He looked away, ashamed at having lost it. “It was the one I received from you on my birthday.”

Hubert’s brow furrowed. “Why go to the trouble for that?” He was perplexed as to why something so unimportant should garner such efforts as digging through the mud. It had only been given out of obligation. “I don’t recall it being of much value.”

It was true. The pin he’d lost wasn’t a particularly lovely pin, nor decorative in fashion. It merely did its job and nothing more. A practical and functional gift, just like the man who’d given it.

“It has value to me,” protested Ferdinand. “And I am ashamed that I have thoughtlessly misplaced something so thoughtful.”

Hubert had no response to that, aside from raising his eyebrows, now more baffled than he’d been before. That was fine by Ferdinand. He hadn’t expected someone like Hubert to understand the value of sentiment anyway.

It was more than a tie pin. For Ferdinand, it represented his and Hubert’s capacity to, at the very least, behave civilly towards one another, if not a chance to one day bridge that expansive gap towards friendship. After all, if they could exchange gifts, maybe they could one day converse over tea. One could only hope.

After a pause, Hubert spoke up, breaking Ferdinand’s reverie. “Have you checked your saddlebags?” he asked.

Ferdinand leveled a glare in his direction. “Of course I have not, what an absurd place for it to be.”

Hubert returned the look with a small shrug. “Humor me, if you would. Check them.”

With a sigh, Ferdinand moved to his bags, tugging a glove off on the way. It would be easier to feel for it, on the off chance that it might be there - something he very much doubted. He thrust his hand into one without further ceremony and began to rifle through its contents. “Very well, but I do not see the point of- Ouch!” A sharp sting pierced his thumb and he hastily withdrew his hand, tugging his glove off with his teeth. A bead of blood collected at his thumb.

Wordlessly, Hubert moved to stand beside him, reaching more cautiously into the bag and removed the offending object, the sharp end exposed. It was the tie pin. Another venture inside, and he found the metal keeper that usually would protect one from the point of the pin.

“It seems I was mistaken,” Ferdinand admitted, nursing his hand.

Hubert replaced the keeper over the pin and offered it to Ferdinand, his eyes on Ferdinand’s wound. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

“No. I am fine, thank you.”

Ferdinand reached out to take the pin, only just grasping the metal when Hubert caught his injured hand. His fingers traced the trail of blood still trickling down Ferdinand’s wrist.

“Would you like for it to hurt?”

It took Ferdinand a moment to understand the question. “I-I beg your pardon?” he asked, too stunned by what was happening to do more than seek clarification.

“I can make it so, if that’s what you’d prefer.” Hubert brought Ferdinand’s wrist close to his mouth, so close his lips nearly brushed sensitive skin. His nostrils flared and for a moment, Ferdinand almost believed him to be breathing in the scent of his blood. But that would be ridiculous, surely.

Ferdinand’s voice died in his throat as his mouth became parched. The memory of the previous night’s dream crossed his mind and for a brief moment, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to deny Hubert his offer.

Then the moment passed, and Ferdinand pulled his hand away.

“Why on Earth would that be something I would want?” Ferdinand asked, voice too high and breath too quick to mask how what had just happened had affected him. “I do not claim to know what it is you hope to accomplish, but I do not wish to be involved.”

Hubert hummed his amusement, seemingly satisfied with the reaction his actions had earned him. “As you say.” His smugness only served to frustrate Ferdinand further.

“Now, if you will excuse me, I have other matters which need attending. Good day to you.” Ferdinand gathered up his things - tie pin in hand - and strode out of the stable.

Hubert remained as he watched him go, his infuriatingly calm expression yet unchanged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything i touch turns into a vampire au
> 
> I don't know where this story plans to go, but I plan to continue it. Thank you for reading.


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